Family of former High Commercial Court judge Karaban has acquired assets worth over $2.5 million in just few years, - media. PHOTO
The family of Volodymyr Karaban, a former judge of the High Commercial Court, which includes several generations of judges and judicial staff, has amassed assets worth over $2.5 million in recent years. Among the ‘gains’ of the judicial clan are dozens of flats in luxury residential complexes, an estate near Kyiv and over 30 parking spaces registered in the names of mothers, mothers-in-law and unemployed relatives.
This is according to an investigation by Bihus.Info, as reported by Censor.NET.
Indeed, the Karaban's family, which is effectively fully integrated into the country’s judicial system, has managed in recent years to purchase a vast amount of liquid assets in the capital and its suburbs, registering them in the names of numerous relatives.
The head of the dynasty
It is noted that after retiring in 2018, Volodymyr Karaban purchased a flat in the elite residential complex "Lvivska Ploshcha" in the very centre of Kyiv and a parking space in the "Forward" residential complex. Furthermore, the former judge drives a premium Volkswagen Touareg SUV (2019 model), which is officially registered to Serhii Yevdokimenko — the brother of his ex-wife. Yevdokimenko himself, strangely enough, suddenly found himself in possession of both a Tesla Model 3 and an Audi Q4 e-tron at the same time. He refused to explain to journalists why the former judge is using his property free of charge.
26 parking spaces for his wife, mother and mother-in-law
The family of Karaban’s nephew — Vladislav Sulim, a sitting judge at the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal — showed the greatest ingenuity. Between 2023 and 2024, his wife, mother and mother-in-law bought up parking spaces on a massive scale. In the capital’s "Comfort-Town" residential complex alone, they managed to acquire at least 26 parking spaces, the market value of which exceeds half a million dollars.
Judge Sulim himself, in a comment to Bihus.Info, offered an excuse, stating that the women had purchased the property "of their own accord and using their personal savings", although this property currently generates no income for them.
The scheme turned out to be a family affair:
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Journalists found a further six parking spaces in the same ‘Comfort-Town’ residential complex owned by the parents of Oleksandr Prokopenko (the husband of Judge Sulim’s sister, who also works in the judicial system).
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A further four parking spaces are registered in the name of Judge Sulim’s wife’s half-sister.
Luxury estates on the embankment and "gifts" in Podil
Judge Sulim’s father-in-law, Ivan Fedorov (former head of the Commercial Court of Zaporizhzhia Oblast), and his wife, Olena Fedorova (a former judge of the same court until 2023) In 2022, they became the owners of a luxury house and land in the elite cottage community "Gold Fish" on the dam of the Kyiv Reservoir. Journalists found that the actual market value of this property at the time of purchase was at least twice as high as the judge’s family had declared.
In addition, the family owns a number of properties in the upmarket residential complex "Pokrovskyi Posad" in Podil, with a combined value of over half a million dollars, which they officially declared as "gifts" or "inheritance".
Seven flats and a mansion in Hatne for the father of a former judge of the Pechersk District Court
Another nephew of the dynasty’s head — former judge of the scandal-hit Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv, Volodymyr Karaban Jr. — acquired a brand-new 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe and a Mercedes-Benz E-Class following his resignation. He also regularly uses a luxury Audi Q8, registered to a fellow villager, and his father’s Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.
The real "successful businessman" in the family turned out to be the father of the former Pechersk Court judge — Mykola Karaban. Over the last few years, the elderly man has become the official owner of:
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Seven flats in new-build developments in Kyiv and Chernihiv;
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A large country estate in the upmarket village of Hatne near Kyiv.
Journalists added that the total value of assets recorded by investigators for this branch of the judicial clan alone, by the most conservative estimates, exceeds $2.5 million. To date, anti-corruption bodies (NACP and NABU) have not provided an official assessment of the Karaban family’s wealth.
